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Burial in grave lined with reused roof tiles |
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Burial in limestone coffin |
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Part of life-sized effigy of a knight, foot with chain mail and spur |
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The Excavation of the Cemetery
The cemetery, which formed a second cloister to the south-east of the chapter house, was excavated within an open area measuring 30 by 27m. It lay under the floor of the old main works building, which had protected it well from disturbance, apart from when the odd deeper concrete foundations for presses had uncovered the occasional burial. This work was carried out during the winter of 2000-2001, with the use of shelters to both screen the burials from public view and to provide some protection for the diggers.
High Status Burials
A total of 294 burials were recovered, which represents the greater part of the cemetery. The earlier use was in well ordered rows, and the presence of many wooden coffins, graves lined with old ceramic roof-tiles, stone-lined graves and a single stone coffin suggests the occupants were of relatively high status.
The Common People
In the later use of the cemetery the arrangement was less well ordered, and the majority of the burials were in simple, shallow earth-cut graves and had been buried in nothing more than a shroud. This resulted in much intercutting of the graves and sometimes there was considerable disturbance of the earlier interments.
The Tomb of a Knight
On the southern side of the cemetery there was a stone-built range containing two mortuary chapels. Within one there was a stone-lined tomb, and a fragment of life-sized sculptured leg, with chain mail and a stirrup strap, came from a broken-up effigy. This may well have been broken up at the dissolution of the abbey in 1538.
A highly decorated grave slab and the remains of two skeletons had been unearthed from the other chapel during building works in 1970.
Interesting pathology
The analysis of the burials is being undertaken by Trevor Anderson at Canterbury. Preliminary assessment indicates the presence of a high percentage of elderly individuals including people who had suffered from extreme trauma, such as leg fractures (below left), and pathological conditions including fused and/or deformed leg joints and advanced degeneration of the spine. Many of these may well have eventually died in the abbey infirmary. There is still much work to do before the use of the cemetery is fully understood, but a few initial comments can be made. It is possible that the cemetery was originally for monastic use only, and it is these early burials that were arranged neatly in rows and were often in elaborate graves furnished with tile or stone linings, or wooden coffins. In the later use, the burials were less neatly arranged and the presence of some clusters of burials suggests that there may have been family plots, and this is supported by the presence of a few child burials and some women. It is these burials that are usually in simple shallow graves, suggesting that they were not people of any great status or wealth.
The importance of the excavation of this cemetery is, therefore, that it has provided us with a rare opportunity to study the health and burial practices of a cross-section of the late medieval population of Northampton, giving us a glimpse of how they both lived and died.
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